Here are the key developments on 1,032. Day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Here is the situation on Sunday, December 22nd:
Battle:
- Eight Ukrainian drones struck residential buildings in the Russian city of Kazan, more than 1,000 km (600 miles) from the front line, carrying the war deep into the heart of Russia. Local authorities said there were no injuries.
- Russia’s Civil Aviation Authority Rosaviatsia has temporarily closed Kazan International Airport and canceled all major public events in the region as a precautionary measure.
- The incumbent governor of RussiaAlexander Chinshtein from the Kursk region said six people, including a child, were killed in a Ukrainian rocket attack on the city of Rylsk on Friday. Ten other people, including a 13-year-old, suffered minor injuries.
- Ukrainian officials said Moscow sent 113 drones to Ukraine overnight on Saturday, 57 of which were shot down. Another 56 drones were “lost,” probably because they were electronically jammed.
- The Russian Defense Ministry said its troops had captured the village of Kostiantynopolske, called Ostrovsky by Russian authorities, as part of an ongoing campaign to take control of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.
- According to the Ukrainian president, a Russian attack in the southern Kherson region hit an oncology hospital Volodymyr Zelensky. There were no injuries as staff and patients sought shelter.
Diplomacy and Security
- Zelensky said he met CIA Director William Burns in Ukraine, a rare public announcement of a meeting between the two. He did not specify when the meeting took place, but said it was their last meeting before Burns leaves his post when Trump takes office.
- A man has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for passing information about Russian soldiers to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), according to Russia’s FSB intelligence agency.
- In response to the attack that killed six people in Kursk, Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, told the Security Council that “Moscow’s response to this targeted crime against peaceful Russian citizens will not be long in coming will leave”.
- Zelensky said Ukraine would “definitely continue to attack Russian military targets with drones and missiles.”
